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StressBall

StressBall

By: Max Stress
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About this listen

 Hi, my name’s Max and welcome to Stressball, a small independent podcast that’s here to finally give you some relief from that ball of stress that sits between your ears by giving it a good squeeze once every few weeks. Stressball is about helping you to enjoy the brief gift of being alive while you have it, instead of stressing about all the ways you might be doing it wrong.

How do we do that? By telling surprising stories and looking at different ways of seeing the world to find out what different perspectives might have to offer. Evolution, psychology, maths, art, philosophy, pop culture, science, poetry, physical fitness, parenting and more besides. We want to look at it all from a different perspective. We want to get beyond first impressions. Can we help cut out the bullshit? We can at least try.

You don’t need to stress so much about life anymore when Stressball is here to help you to enjoy life instead.

In the words of writer Charles Bukowski, “we are here to laugh at the odds and live our lives so well that Death will tremble to take us.” Let’s try to do that together.

So, if you like the sound of any of that, come join us, give us a squeeze, and see how much better you feel.Copyright Max Stress Philosophy Science Social Sciences
Episodes
  • Episode 3 - The Hidden Cost of Identity

    Episode 3 - The Hidden Cost of Identity
    Jun 30 2022
    Today we’re talking about Self-confidence, self-esteem, identity, and dear-lord-do-we-have -to, shame. We’ll also explore the social element shared by esteem and shame, so because we fundamentally misunderstand how examples work, we decided to kick things off with the least social example of an already unsocial sport: a man playing chess on his own against a machine. Don’t tell me your pulses aren’t racing!

    Get ready for some Gritty Group therapy as we explore the hidden cost of identity! What is shame? How does shame control us? And what, if anything, can we do about it?
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    1 hr and 33 mins
  • Episode 2 - With Story In Mind!

    Episode 2 - With Story In Mind!
    Jun 29 2022
    Today we start with the story of a 12-year-old boy being groomed by a circus performer into believing he was immortal. But don’t panic just yet. Today’s episode is about stories.

    We talk about how evolution gave us stories and once it discovered their power, it used them as much as possible. We talk about stories of cause and effect and of identity, and along the way we discuss film editing, dopamine, the Godfather, the Hero's journey, and information theory.

    What is the role of story in our lives?
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    1 hr and 9 mins
  • Episode 1 - Strangely Conscious

    Episode 1 - Strangely Conscious
    Jun 29 2022
    Today’s episode is the first one ever! So in the interests of starting light, it begins with the operation from hell! Today’s episode is going to ask questions about our perception of ourselves, the world around us, our consciousness, and our anxieties.

    Along the way, we’re going to look at what your brain has in common with Bill Clinton, how I get self-conscious around monkeys, a pubcrawl to spacetime and bondage, hallucinations, and what it might mean to trust your gut. This episode is about feeling stuck and how some people got unstuck.

    What part of us is conscious anyway?
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    59 mins
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